Only the Toronto Star could run a Story that shows Pm Stephen Harper coming in second as the best PM since 1968, and then devote half the story to dissing the PM and trying to change the findings of the poll to criticize the PM.
After this bit here :"Coming in a distant second is Prime Minister Stephen Harper, at 11 per cent. Jean Chrétien is third at 9 per cent and Brian Mulroney is next at 8 per cent," the rest of the story attacks Harper. Oddly, little attention was paid to the fact the PM beat Chretien, Martin, Mulroney, Clark?, Turner, and Campbell, as the 2nd choice for Canadian's as best PM. And I'm sure if you took Trudeau's Quebec home advantage out of the equation, PM Harper would be #1.
It's this type of pathetic petty journalism that the Star and other MSM outlets finding their importance and credibility rapidly dwindling.
It was like a preemptive swing at PMSH,
ReplyDeleteare new polls coming out?
Or is this just a continuation of the media having to respond the the truth ads,
because the Libs didn't?
As someone in the Star comments pointed out, anyone under 45 who picked Trudeau was likely too young to vote for him.
ReplyDeleteMy husband was polled by Ekos a couple of weeks ago, with specific reference to high-speed rail-links between major cities (Aha!), but that poll seems to have vanished without trace.
Angus Reid are currently polling, so there should be a new poll out next week, Wilson.
There are a large number of people in Quebec who hate Trudeau. It is Atlantic Canadians and Ontarians who love him.
ReplyDelete"My husband was polled by Ekos a couple of weeks ago, with specific reference to high-speed rail-links between major cities (Aha!), but that poll seems to have vanished without trace."
ReplyDeleteI remember you mentioning that Jad. Seems odd that it is one of Iggy's ideas for the future. Why is a polling company doing research for Liberal platform ideas? Hopefully it's the Liberal's paying for the poll.
It's also dishonest of you to write your blog post this way, because the rest of the Star article is about how Harper topped the list as the WORST Prime Minister. It isn't just about dissing him. That 22% of Canadians said he was worst is a bigger story than Harper coming in second place at 11%.
ReplyDeleteYour bias is showing.
Actually Eric, the fact is the article makes passing mention of Harper beating Chretien as best PM. That's worthy of discussion itself. Of course there might be a little bias in my writing. I am a Blogging Tory, so that should be a clue.
ReplyDeleteAnd the very last line of the article gives reason why Harper topped worst PM. No surprise Liberal, NDP, and Bloc voters aren't enamored with him. They would have voted him worst PM after one day in office.
So? It's clear that mostly current Conservative supporters said that Harper was best PM. What other options would they have? Mulroney? Clark?
ReplyDeleteWhat say we have a little poll to determine the most biased newspaper in Canada?
ReplyDeleteWhy don't we just hand the award to the National Post right now?
ReplyDelete"The poll found that 38 per cent of those who voted Liberal in the 2008 federal election select Harper as the worst prime minister. The same percentage of Bloc Québécois voters said likewise, while 31 per cent of NDP voters in 2008 named Harper the worst. Among Conservative voters, 23 per cent say Trudeau was the worst prime minister, while 20 per cent name Chrétien."
ReplyDeleteThe first line there gives you the reason facts are skewed. Those who voted in the 2008 election. Many of those who voted in the 2008 election were most likely too young to vote during Mulroney and Trudeau's years. Of course they are going to see Harper as the worst.
"Why don't we just hand the award to the National Post right now?"
ReplyDeleteIf you did the Star would protest and ask for a recount:0)
ha ha ha ha
ReplyDeleteI want to smoke what you're smoking!
Harper has not brought in a charter of Rights or Freedoms or a Free Trade Agreement or saved Canada from a Quebec referendum. He has no great triumph. His strenghth is nasty belwo the belt politics. He'll be forgotten 5 minutes after he is finished as PM.
ReplyDeleteI've been saying for a while now that I think Harper IS the best PM in at least 40 years. I mean that in terms of how much he's been able to get done, especially in a minority.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the united opposition he has, it's amazing that he's gotten anything done at all. Yet, we have the best managed government in the entire world right now. It's truly incredible. He's one of the best leaders any western nation has ever had.
Anon,
ReplyDeletePMSH is already in the history books:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, holding the record for the longest running minority government in Canadian history,
was able to to stop a constitutional crisis,
created by a parliamentary proceedure attempted by a coalition of Opposition parties.
This was the biggest threat to National Unity since the 1995 Quebec referendum,
with Canadians reacting to the threat of a coalition government, country-wide.
Stephen Harper was the sitting Prime Minister, governing during the the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Having successfully managed to stop a coalition attempt to seize his recently re-government,
PM Harper led the Canadian economy out of the recession in less than 9 months.
Canada was one of 3 countries to recover first from the devasting global economic crash.
The first world media are just hand puppets for the London based Fabians. Look it up. (real conservative)
ReplyDeleteIffy will be in the history books too anon:
ReplyDeleteAfter 34 years as an accomplished author, historian and cosmopolitan jetsetter, Michael Ignatieff returned to Canada in 2005,
his birth place, to persue a career in politics.
The goal of the LPC was to recreate the frenzy that a famous Liberal Prime Minister enjoyed, Trudeaumania.
Mr. Ignatieff won an Ontario riding in 2006, on his first attempt. But securing the Liberal leadership as easily, did not come to be.
He brought with him from his years spent out of the country , a series of articles written supporting very unpopular positions on President Bush's war in Iraq.
His absence from Canada for 3 decades, and positions on Quebec, also became an issues.
Mr. Ignatieff lost the leadership race to Stephen Dion.
Ignatieff then proceeded to retrack his earlier positions on the Iraq war and his support for limited torture.
The retraction of previously held positions,
became one of Ignatieff's most defining charactoristics,
through out his political career.
Mr. Dion proved to be a poor leader, taking the LPC to their lowest performance numbers in the LPC history, in Oct 2008.
Ironically, the demise of Dion was the platform Ignatieff ran on for the Liberal leadership race, called the Green Shift.
An environmental taxation scheme many Canadians opposed.
With in months of the re-election of a Conservative minority government (12 seats short of a majority),
all 3 Opposition parties, led by the Liberals, secretly went into agreement to use an old parliamentary proceedure to seize the government.
Their attempt failed, when Prime Minister Harper dusted off another ancient rule, and prorogued Parliament.
Taking advantage of the very vulnerable position the LPC was in, after a failed attempt to seize the government,
Ignatieff manouvered himself into the LPC top job.
Through back room deals,
Dion was ordered out, and the only 2 other condenders for the proposed Liberal leadership race were convinced to drop out.
There would be no leadership race, the Liberal membership was asked to install their executive selection, Ignatieff.
Michael Ignatieff was coronated as leader.
Ignatieff is the first Liberal leader in the history of the party to have never held a Ministerial position.
Perhaps Eric doesn't like the fact that our PM is not part of the French Canadian mafia that has hijacked Canadian politics for so many years.
ReplyDeleteCan't have an Anglo PM who stands up for the rest of Canada, now, can we?
Can anyone who bashes PM Harper please tell us how we are worse off under PM Harper, in real terms?
From where I sit, Canada has never had more pride, influence in the world or better economic standing, than under the Conservatives.
To add to Kursk's comment: I wonder whether most of the Liberal fury is because for the first time in decades Power Corp. and the Desmarais accolytes have NO voice in the Harper government of Canada a la Mulroney, Chretien and Martin. But Bob Rae's brother is still big with the Lib organization. Is that why Bob stepped down? Was he ordered to do so? Questions, questions, questions....
ReplyDelete